USA > Virginia > The planting of the Presbyterian Church in Northern Virginia : prior to the organization of Winchester Presbytery, December 4, 1794 > Part 8
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Dr. Hoge was twice married; first, on the 23d of August, 1783, to Miss Elizabeth Poage, of Augusta County; a woman whose rich endow- ments of body and mind made her eminently worthy of his love. She died June 18, 1802, on her way to the Sweet Springs, to which resort her husband was taking her, with the hope that her declining health might be restored. It should be mentioned as strikingly characteristic of Dr. Hoge, that, at her funeral, he stood at the head of her grave, and, with wonderful pathos and effectiveness, preached Christ, the crucified, as the Resurrec- tion and the Life. She left four children, three of whom became distin- guished preachers. On the 25th of October, 1803, he was united in mar- riage to Mrs. Susannah Hunt, of Charlotte County, the widow of William Pitt Hunt, and mother of Rev. Thomas P. Hunt. By this marriage there were no children.
The only likeness of Dr. Hoge that I have ever seen, represents him as spare in person, with rather sharp features, and an expression of coun- tenance both grave and dignified. His friend and pupil, the late Rev. Dr. William S. Reid, of Lynchburg, Va., describes him as " of middle size, somewhat tending to a forward bodily inclination. His manners, though without much artificial polish, were familiar and agreeable; expressing very strongly the kindness and benignity of his spirit. He possessed a mind of uncommon vigor, capable at once of accurate discrimination and profound research, and withal richly stored with the treasures of scientific knowl- edge. As a preacher his manner was ungraceful, even uncouth; but there was so much depth and originality of thought, such richness and force of
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illustration, and such clear and cogent reasoning, that the awkwardness of his manner was very soon quite overlooked or forgotten." [Sprague's Annals, Vol. III, p. 429.]
A fine tribute to Dr. Hoge, from the pen of his co-Presbyter, Rev. Joseph Glass, I must not forbear to quote. In answer to a .request from Rev. John Blair Hoge for help in preparing a memoir of his father, Mr. Glass writes:
"In writing his history I should not know how to begin; beginning it, I should not know how to end. It was not that he was unlike other men, but that he was always like himself; not that he was zealously engaged in doing good today, but that in doing good he was zealously engaged every day; not that he performed duty, but that he never tired in performing it; not that he put his hand to the plough, but that he never looked back; not that he knew how to do good, but that he knew not how to do harm: and it was on a foundation, composed of these singular materials, that he erected the monument of an unspotted life. It is from the top of this monument that his spirit looks down upon the insignificance of conquerors and kings, and proclaims to the world that the love of God is more durable than polished brass."
Dr. Hoge died July 5, 1820, in the city of Philadelphia; having gone there as a commissioner to the General Assembly; and his remains are interred in the burying ground of the Third Presbyterian Church of that city, by the side of those of his intimate friend, Dr. John Blair Smith, a former president of Hampden-Sidney College.
XII. ELK BRANCH.
The present Elk Branch church is at Duffields in Jefferson County, W. Va., a station on the Baltimore & Ohio Railway, six miles west of Harpers Ferry. The house of worship is on the north side of the Elk Branch, a small tributary of the Potomac, and from which the church takes its name. But the old church, with the history of which we are here con- cerned, was half a mile west of the present site, and on the south side of the Branch, near the large spring formerly enclosed in the Block House, which the early settlers built for protection from the hostile Indians.
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The name of this church first comes to our notice in the Records of Donegal, April 11, 1769. The prominence it evidently had even then, and the decided importance it soon attained, suggest either a much earlier organ- ization than is indicated by the above date, or else the recent organization of a colony of considerable strength set off from an older church. The alternative of an earlier organization is improbable, because when first named in the minutes it is called " Elk Branch in Virginia;" not, as in the case of " Tuscarora in Virginia," to distinguish it from another church of the same name in Pennsylvania-for there was no other church of this name-but to designate its locality as a church hitherto unknown to Pres- bytery. The other alternative offers the more probable solution. If the theory we have already advanced (pp. 32, 33) is correct, that the old " Potomack " church was about this time re-organized under the new name of "Shepherdstown," by which name that town now began to be called, then the idea is very reasonable that the members of that church residing on Elk Branch, now quite numerous, should ask for a separate and more convenient organization for themselves. And if they were set off in a body from the parent church, it will account for the prominence with which. this church sprang so suddenly into notice. It did not have to grow, as most other churches of that day did, from feeble beginnings and by slow accessions, but started as a fully organized church.
This opinion is sustained by the fact that there was already a church building at the Link Spring. This house, built of logs, was in a state of decay in 1792, which is proof that it must have been erected a long time before 1769. And it is fair to assume that in that house the Presbyterians on Elk Branch were accustomed to hold occasional, if not stated, worship. This opinion is further sustained by the activity in church life displayed at once by this people in their persistent and successful efforts to obtain for themselves the ordinances of the Gospel, as well as by the early period at which they were able to settle a pastor of their own. Appearing in Pres- bytery for the first time in April, 1769, we find them present and asking for supplies at every stated meeting, and even at some adjourned meetings, during the next seven years. And while "supplications " from other places, though more rarely made, were not always successful, Elk Branch seems always to have obtained the supplies it asked for.
In answer to their first application the Rev. Robert Cooper was sent them; a few weeks later Rev. Hezekiah Balch; and after that, at each meeting of Presbytery, there are several appointments made for Elk Branch. Among the ministers sent for the next six or seven years-and some of
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them were sent very frequently-were Messrs. Cooper, Balch, Slemons, Vance, Craighead, Rhea, Lang, Hoge, McKnight, Thompson, Hunter, McConnell and others. It is interesting to mention, as showing the 'genu- ine old-fashioned Presbyterianism of these Elk Branch people, and also a carefully-observed custom of our church at that day; that in several instan- ces, when asking for supplies, they put in the special request that the min- ister sent should catechize the church; and in this request we have reason to believe that the Larger as well as the Shorter Catechism was included.
What previous efforts, if any, were made by this church to obtain a pastor, we are not informed ; but at the meeting of April, 1776, a call for the pastoral services of Licentiate John McKnight was presented. The commissioners from Elk Branch, presenting this call, were John White (father of the distinguished Judge Robert White, of Winchester), James McAllister and John Wright. The salary per annum promised was £132, 7s., subscribed, and £120, Pennsylvania currency, pledged. This young preacher, it would seem, was in great demand, as two other calls from · churches in Pennsylvania were presented for him at the same meeting, and each of these offered a salary considerably larger than that from Elk Branch. The three calls were placed in his hands, and at the next meet- ing (June, 1776) "Mr. McKnight, being called upon by Presbytery to an- swer the calls in his hands, accepted that from Elk Branch." No further action in this matter was taken until the stated meeting in October, when "Presbytery agreed to meet at Elk Branch, Tuesday, December 3, 1776, to ordain Mr. McKnight." Accordingly, Presbytery met, as appointed, in "the Elk Branch Presbyterian Church." Present-Seven ministers and four Ruling Elders. Absent-nine ministers. The meeting was opened with the trial sermon of Mr. McKnight from Heb. 6:1-8. All his trials were successfully passed, and on Thursday morning, December 5, 1776, he was set apart to the full work of the Gospel ministry and installed the first pastor of the Elk Branch church. Rev. James Lang preached the ordination sermon and the Rev. Mr. Balch delivered the charge. Mr. McKnight continued for several years the beloved and faithful pastor of this church, feeding his own people with "the finest of the wheat," and doing his part in supplying the vacancies and destitutions around him, and often carrying the Gospel into "the regions beyond." But in October, 1782, he felt constrained to tender his resignation on account of serious arrears in salary. When we remember that during the whole of his min- istry here the Revolutionary War was in progress, the business of the country interrupted and its money almost worthless, we need not be sur-
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prised that his people were in such financial straits as to be unable to meet their pecuniary obligations to their pastor. But as the same conditions prevailed almost everywhere, and yet pastors were in some measure paid, it is quite possible that this particular church was not free from blame in allowing the salary to fall so far behind that their pastor was compelled to leave them.
As proof of his popularity as a preacher, no sooner was it known that he was released from Elk Branch than strenuous efforts were made, in numer- ous vacancies, to secure his services. Calls were at once sent him from Bullskin, Cool Spring, South Branch and Patterson's Creek in Virginia, as well as from several places in Pennsylvania. He accepted the call from Marsh Creek (Gettysburg) Pa., and was settled there.
During all his ministry, the Rev. Dr. McKnight was a conspicuous figure in the church. He was a man of distinguished ability and great in- fluence. He was born near Carlisle, Pa., October 1, 1754, and was grad- uated from Princeton College in 1773. Having decided to enter the min- istry, he was licensed by Donegal Presbytery, April 12, 1775, and or- dained by the same Presbytery December 5, 1776. After his pastorate of six years at Elk Branch (1776-1782) and of six years also at Marsh Creek (1783-1789) he accepted a call to the Collegiate churches in New York City as co-pastor with Rev. Dr. John Rodgers, where he continued for twenty years in the earnest and faithful discharge of his ministerial duties, and for several years preaching three times each Sabbath. On account of some changes in his collegiate relations, which he did not approve, and on account also of enfeebled health, he resigned his pastorate in 1810 and re- tired to his farm near Chambersburg in the Cumberland Valley. Soon after this the Rocky Spring church, in the neighborhood of his home, be- came vacant, and he served it for several years as stated supply, but with as much fidelity as if he had been its installed pastor. In 1815 he was persuaded reluctantly to accept the presidency of Dickinson College; but because of its serious financial embarrassments he resigned his position at the end of a year and returned to his farm, where the remainder of his life was spent, preaching as opportunity offered and his health would permit. He died October 21, 1823, in the seventieth year of his age, "in the full ex- ercise of his mental powers and in the lively assurance of a future glorious life."
A few weeks before his installation at Elk Branch, Mr. McKnight was happily married to Miss Susan Brown, of Franklin County, Pa. Ten children were the fruit of this union, two of whom entered the ministry.
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In 1791 he received the degree of D. D. from Yale College, and in 1795 was chosen Moderator of the General Assembly.
In the course of his ministry, Dr. McKnight published a number of "occasional sermons." Soon after his settlement in New York, at the urgent request of some prominent ministers, he published a volume on "Faith," consisting of six sermons, which he had preached in different places. In connection with this volume, Dr. A. Alexander relates an in- teresting fact ("Life," pp. 119, 120). While in the Lower Valley in 1791-2, he writes: "I preached frequently for old Mr. Vance, of Tusca- rora, who then lay upon his death bed. In this congregation I met with one Robert Campbell, whose memory was prodigious. The Rev. Dr.Mc- Knight had formerly been his pastor and was held by him in great admi- ration. Campbell could repeat many of the Doctor's sermons verbatim. When Dr. McKnight resolved to publish several sermons on Faith, he had lost the manuscript of one among them. He had recourse to Mr. Camp- bell, who supplied what was missing, and, as I was informed, with great exactness."
Dr. McKnight had a rich vien of humor, though he did not often in- dulge it. He is undoubtedly the original author of that well-known pleas- antry which has been ascribed to many different ministers of distinction- conspicuously to Dr. Plumer of Virginia-and which some others, who are not distinguished, have sometimes plagiarized. In one of his early charges he had just ordained three new elders, one of whom was appointed to go with him to Presbytery the next week. The evening before they were to set off, this elder came to his pastor, much worried in mind, to inquire what responsible duties should be expected of him as a delegate to Pres- bytery. Perceiving his embarrassment, the Doctor assumed a serious air, and replied : "You are to be here in time to see that my horse is properly fed, and groomed, and saddled, and ready for us to start ; you are to go along with me and be ready to open and shut all gates, to let down and put up all bars ; you are to go on before and order dinner ; you are to pay all bills ; and then to vote always as I do." This playfulness relieved the anxiety of the new elder, whose countenance changed from its solemn gravity to a smile ; and then he was informed what his real duties would be.
Dr. McKnight has been described "As a man of slender person, above medium height and of a considerate and reflective countenance, in- dicative of deep and protracted thought. His bearing and address were graceful and dignified, without any manifestation of overbearing pride or haughtiness. He was at ease in every society and could adapt himself to
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all cirumstances and to all classes of persons. As a preacher he was calm, dispassionate, with little variation of tone or gesture, yet not monotonou or unimpressive, but with a manner well adapted to his matter, which was generally a lucid and logical exposition of some important Scripture truth. He was a zealous expounder and defender of the Calvinistic faith, which he was careful always to enforce by a due citation of Scripture passages" (Duffield, condensed by Norcross).
When Elk Branch became vacant by the resignation of Mr. McKnight it renewed its application to Donegal Presbytery for supplies. These Rec- ords, however, contain but one such application, and in the Records of Car- lisle, after its organization in 1786, there is not one. In April, 1783, it asks for "supplies to be equally divided between Elk Branch and Shepherdstown." At the same meeting Shepherdstown made the same request. This is signifi- cant, as showing the influence of old associations. What answer Presbytery returned to this petition we are not informed, but from the silence of the Rec- ords for several years, it is quite probable that some arrangement was made for the joint supply of these two churches. It is a fact that from this time for a period of about forty years, Elk Branch, as a church, drops completely out of the Ecclesiastical Records. Neither Carlisle nor Lexington men- tions it in its official report to the General Assembly (Minutes of Assembly, 1789 and 1792-3). Nor does this name appear in the list of churches set off by the Synod of Virginia (1794) to constitute the Presbytery of Winchester. The explanation of this is furnished in part by the following extract from the Presbyterial History of this church : "After Mr. Mc- Knight left, Donegal Presbytery continued to supply Elk Branch until 1792, when, by the consent of the people, at the house of Peter Martin, Elk Branch was partitioned, one part, with its Elders and people, going under the care of Rev. Moses Hoge at Shepherdstown, and the other part going under the care of Rev. William Hill, of Bullskin to unite in forming the new church in the new town of Charlestown, the county seat of Jefferson County, W. Va." And so one of our oldest, and at one time, one of our most important churches disappears from the Records until its reorganization in 1833.
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Beginning with the year 1768, and continuing for ten years or more, the Presbytery displayed special activity in its evangelistic work. Not only was it diligent in supplying congregations already formed and asking its aid, but it went out into regions from which no request for supplies came. Some of these missionary expeditions seem to have added nothing to the strength or growth of the church. There were several points within the bounds of what was afterwards Winchester Presbytery, to which preachers were sent once, or more frequently ; but where no sufficient en- couragement was found for continuing to send them. Of some of these places our information is very indefinite-of some of them, indeed, their location is not definitely known. Some of them were west of the Blue Ridge, and others east of it, but in territory that, prior to 1859, belonged to our Presbytery. We will mention them in the order in which they are found in the Donegal Records.
1. Lost River.
This point, as we interpret the minutes, is mentioned twice in the Rec- ords ; first, in October, 1768, when Rev, John Hoge is directed to "supply at Mr. Wilson's, near Lost River." This Mr. Wilson, we have reason to believe, lived at or near what is now known as "Lost City," and where, in 1899, a church was organized by our Presbytery. Nearly fifty years be- fore that organization there was occasional preaching at that point. When the Rev. Dr. W. V. Wilson was pastor at Moorefield he held a protracted meeting there every summer ; and the family that was most in- terested in having these services was. named "Wilson." Again, in April, 1769, a request went up to Presbytery from Lost River for supplies. We are not informed who was sent. Though the designation here is not in the same terms as before, it is reasonable to suppose that each of these min- utes refers to the same place. "Lost River" is not mentioned again and yet it is altogether probable that it was visited by the supplies that were afterward sent to "places adjacent to the South Branch." The Lost River is that remarkable stream which rises near Howard's Lick, in Hardy County, and after flowing in a northeasterly direction for some fifty miles, suddenly disappears at the base of a mountain near Wardensville, and then at a point about three miles distant, on the other side of the mountain, re- appears as the Capon River and flows on to the Potomac. While in the Records to which we have access, no further mention is made of this place after 1769; yet it must have received considerable attention a few years later from other sources-perhaps from the Presbytery of Lexington, and
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in connection with the work at Moorefield. Through the labors of parties unknown to us now, it had grown into a congregation of such importance that " Lost River" is mentioned as one of the " churches " set off by the Synod of Virginia to constitute the Presbytery of Winchester.
2. North River.
This is the next one of those places of which we are now speaking. In the minutes for April 11, 1769, North River is mentioned as asking for supplies. This River is in Hampshire County, and is the main tributary of the Capon. The confluence of the two rivers is called "Forks of Capon," where a Presbyterian church was established about 1768. The point on the North River for which supplies are now asked is not designated, but was prob- ably near our present North River church, where at a very early day a con- siderable body of people, mostly Presbyterians, had settled. This church is in Hampshire County, and while North River is not again mentioned by name it may very well have been included in the "various places in Hamp- shire County, Va.," to which, the minutes tell us, supplies were sometimes sent. We have now three organized churches along that river.
3. Warm Springs in Virginia.
This is another point mentioned but once in the Records. There is noth- ing in that mention to indicate with certainty the locality of these Springs ; nor have we been able to obtain any information that would satisfactorily fix their location. They may be the "Warm Springs" in Morgan County, though we have nothing but the name to suggest it, as we have no knowl- edge of any Presbyterian settlement there at that time. The only clue to their location, and that a very slight one, is that in the minute in which the name appears, June,1772, Rev. Mr. Thom is "ordered to supply Alex- andria and Warm Springs in Virginia." Ordinarily, though not always, such an order indicates that the places to be supplied are in the same gen- eral region of country. That clue would place these Springs some- where east of the Blue Ridge ; and the only place in our eastern territory known to us that would in any way answer to this name, are the Fauquier White Sulphur Springs, six miles southwest of Warrenton. We have no assurance, hovever, that these are the springs meant, and as the name oc- curs but this once, and no church was planted at the place, it is not a mat- ter of much importance that we are not able to locate it with accuracy.
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4. North Branch of Rappahannock.
Until a few years before the breaking out of the War for Independ- ence the evangelistic efforts of Donegal Presbytery in Virginia were ex- pended almost exclusively in the region west of the Blue Ridge ; but after that time a very active interest was taken in that part of Eastern Virginia lying between the Potomac River and the Rappahannock. As this section is a part of the original territory of Winchester Presbytery, the missionary work of Donegal east of the Blue Ridge claims a place in these historical sketches.
The first certain mention of any place east of the Ridge is "The North Branch of the Rappahannock, in Culpeper County, Va." This is in April, 1772, when a request for supplies is sent from this place; and in answer to this request Mr. Slemons was directed to preach there the fourth Sab- bath in August and Mr. Craighead the fourth Sabbath in September. The probable location of this place we have not been able to ascertain, nor does the name, in this precise form, appear again in the Records. It is possible that this records the beginning of Presbyterian preaching in Culpeper county, as soon after this date Culpeper Court-House comes prominently into notice.
5. Gourdvine.
This place is mentioned in the same minute with the last-April, 1772. Mr. Amos Thompson was ordered to supply one Sabbath at discretion, Mr. Slemons the first Sabbath in September, and Mr. Craighead the first Sabbath of October. At a meeting of Presbytery in June of the same year the Rev. Mr. Thom is appointed an additional supply ; and after that the name does not appear again. Gourdvine is on the North Branch of the Rappahannock River, in Culpeper County, and very near the line which separates that county from Rappahannock. That it is a different place from that which is definitely called the "North Branch of the Rap- pahannock" is evident from the fact that, when Mr. Slemons was sent to supply these two places, he was directed to preach one Sabbath on the "North Branch" and the next Sabbath at "Gourdvine."
6. Turkey Run.
"Turkey Run, in Fauquier County," is another place several times mentioned as supplied by Presbytery, but at which no church seems to have been established. This "Run" is a few miles east of Warrenton. Old "Parson Williamson" spent the most of his ministry in that region,
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and his daughter, still living there at a very advanced age, learned from her father that before and after A. D., 1800, Presbyterian services were regularly held at a certain point on that stream until they were transferred to the town of Warrenton. In April, 1778, ministerial supplies were first asked for, and Rev. Samuel Waugh, who "at his own request had been granted leave to itinerate in Virginia " during the three summer months of that year, "was recommended especially to supply some Sabbaths at Tur- key Run and parts adjacent." At the same meeting " the Committee on Supplies " was directed to arrange for preaching at various places, and among them Turkey Run is especially named. And from subsequent min- utes we find that this committee was accustomed to provide supplies year by year for this and other places.
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